Does laughter hold power for a woman, and does the type of laughter matter? How does laughter transform from giggling to cackling, and what is the difference? Small, delicate giggles have been attributed as lady-like, often frivolous. Loud, open mouthed cackles have been frowned upon, often treated as going against social norms, an action given to a villain in a fictional story. In Tanya Jha’s journal article, “Why is Women’s Laughter Always Loud, Immoral, and Unsanskari,” she compares heroines to villains in Bollywood film, noting the types of laughter these characters portray.1 Dangerous women laugh at inappropriate, unexpected times, rarely bothering to cover their mouths. In Bollywood film, Jha states, dangerous mythical women tend to laugh at men. “The issue is not just about laughter…but is that a woman laughing at a man.”2 Laughter becomes a sort of divide from the male gaze — it becomes a shared experience for the women on screen and the women in the audience. The women get it.
Brooke Boland, in her article “Women laughing: transgression and collective power,” argues how shared laughter between women creates a strength in a society which often pits women against each other.3 This shared knowledge of laughter can be traced back to carnivals during the Middle Ages, where “religious morality became a mockery.”4 Laughter became a form of rebellion against the Church, against moral society. This communal laughter found life in women’s circles, such as during childbirth or other celebratory gatherings. The laughter in these gatherings caused paranoia and discomfort around men that laughter among women became viewed more and more as malicious. Nancy Reicke, in “Antidote to Dominance: Women’s Laughter as Counteraction,” says:
“The threat to male dominance isn’t women laughing at men; the threat is women laughing with women”5
Nancy Reicke “Antidote to Dominance: Women’s Laughter as Counteraction”
In 9 Tales of a Bitch, playful, flirty giggles come from behind large fans as eyes peek over the rims. The girls giggle towards each other when they gossip, an unspoken knowledge shared between them. The giggling comes back again as three girls roll atop another, yet this time faces cannot be seen, and the mystery grows to be unsettling. Slowly, the giggling transforms into what sounds like sobbing, yet it remains unclear. As the women become wilder in their movements, transforming into “bitches,” Sua returns to the fans, referencing the small giggles from the beginning and quickly erupts into loud, heavy cackling. She is unapologetic in nature and drags the rest of us into silent, open mouthed stances.
In my piece, I use these specific types of laughter to convey how women are typically viewed. From a teasing giggle to a spiteful guffaw, these are actions usually attributed to women and “female hysteria”. Much like my research above, I want the laughing in my piece to subvert the male gaze and give all control to the women onstage. They participate in shared laughter together, growing power and throwing it back into the audience while cackling.
Along with laughter, my sound environment comprises music by experimental Korean artists, such as Jambinai, Hyejin Shin, and South Korean DJ Jaeho Hwang. Hwang’s work is a mixture of Korean folk sounds and contemporary beats, which I found to be a great reflection of how I am personally trying to bridge tradition and modernity.
- Tanya Jha, “Why is Women’s Laughter Always Loud, Immoral, and Unsanskari?” Feminism in India, August 14, 2018, https://feminisminindia.com/2018/08/14/womens-laughter/.
- Jha, “Why is Women’s Laughter Always Loud, Immoral, and Unsanskari?”
- Brooke Boland, “Women laughing: transgression and collective power,” Overland Literary Journal, July 12, 2017, https://overland.org.au/2017/07/women-laughing-transgression-and-collective-power/.
- Boland, “Women laughing: transgression and collective power.”
- Nancy Reincke, Antidote to Dominance: Women’s Laughter as Counteraction, The Journal of Popular Culture, 24: 27-37, 1991, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1991.2404_27.x.